Lithic Assemblages Recovered from Azokh 1

Between 2002 and 2009, renewed investigations of Units II, III, IV and V at Azokh 1 cave were undertaken following rigorous systematic methods of excavation and recording. New dates suggest an age of 184–100 ka for Unit II and ~300 ka for Unit Vm. The excavations produced a range of fossil faunas dominated by cave bears, and 387 lithic artifacts: 68 from Unit Vm, 4 from Unit III, and 315 from Unit II. Although a range of rock types was exploited for tool production, most artifacts are on siliceous rocks, with a few made from non-local obsidian. There is little evidence for the early stages of production on-site. It is possible that initial working may have occurred elsewhere, and cores, blanks and tools transported to the cave. However, given the restricted area of excavations at the rear of the cave, we cannot discount the possibility of knapping activities having occurred in other areas of the cave, the sediments of which were removed in earlier excavations. The stone artifacts from Unit II, with their Levallois component, are clearly Middle Paleolithic, and may be among the earliest evidence for Middle Paleolithic presence in the Southern Caucasus. The material from Unit Vm could be late Acheulean on the basis of dating, lack of Levallois technology, the general larger sizes of the pieces (although no bifaces have been found), and its stratigraphic position below Units II, III, and IV.